THE HOTEL SHOW SAUDI ARABIA EXHIBITION POST SHOW REPORT 2012 We have been participating in the Hotel Show Dubai for the past 12 years. Hosting such an event in Saudi was a great initiative by dmg. Saudi has a lot of potential and by participating in such shows it has definitely given a boost to our business. Amit Sharda, Vice President Hospitality, Prologic First Organised by Co-organised by Under the Patronage of
Dear industry colleague, The inaugural Hotel Show Saudi Arabia finally closed its doors on November 19th 2012 to a very successful three days of business where more than 100 local and international brands showcased the latest food and hospitality products, technology, interiors and solutions to a very healthy audience of buyers. This report contains details of the attendance and activity levels at the event and its success can be measured on participant s responses and actions. With an overall attendance of 3,830 trade professionals, of which 57% were decision makers or buyers, the 2012 exhibitors came away from the event extremely happy with their decision to participate in and support a new event in the region. They further demonstrated ongoing confidence and support by rebooking for the next edition of the event in 2014, to secure participation and get the best possible stand positions. ideal solution. If you haven t yet looked at the Saudi market, now is the time. With SR97.5billion tourism investment in the hotel sector in the next 10 years this is certainly a region and a show not to be missed, so make sure you confirm your place in it soon. Finally, on behalf of dmg events, MICE Arabia and The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia team, I would like to extend our gratitude for the support of our patron HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities, together with The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, exhibitors, visitors and partners. I look forward to welcoming you to the next edition of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia in 2014. Plans for the 2014 event are well underway and it certainly promises to be bigger and better, offering the unrivalled opportunity for more food and hotel suppliers to enter a challenging but exciting and exceedingly lucrative marketplace. For hospitality suppliers seeking out new business and growth, this region and show provides the Christine Davidson Event Director The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2012 Partners & Sponsors Under the Patronage of: Supported by: Premium Sponsors: Silver Sponsor: VIP Lounge Sponsor: Business Lounge Sponsor: Knowledge Partners: 2
Bringing the hotel and hospitality world to Saudi Arabia A sister event of the long-established world-class Hotel Show Dubai, the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia exhibition gathered more than 100 regional and international companies together with over 2,700 visitors looking to source the latest and most innovative products and services for the Saudi Arabian hotel and hospitality sectors. With exhibiting companies from 20 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia exhibition has already established itself as the largest and most comprehensive international hotel and hospitality trade event in the Saudi Arabian events calendar. An associate event, the Hotel Summit Saudi Arabia, ran in conjunction with the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia exhibition at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Jeddah. The Summit hosted 30 speakers and 170 delegates and highlighted the latest trends in hospitality from across the globe and identified how these trends can be utilised in the Kingdom s vision for its tourism and hospitality sectors. The Hotel Show Saudi provided us with the opportunity to meet new customers from the Saudi market. The quality of visitors was good and we met our objectives for exhibiting at the show. As a launch event this was a great first-time experience and I feel that the Hotel Show Saudi will go from strength to strength in the coming years. Ayman Halabi, General Manager Hospitality Partner Exhibition Information Dates 17-19 November 2012 Venue Jeddah Centre for Forums & Events Gross Sqm 5,815 Exhibiting Companies 101 Countries Represented 20 The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia Exhibition 2012 Attendance Unique Visitors 2,664 Media / Press 27 VIP Visitors 88 Revisiting Trade Visitors 388 Exhibitors 663 Total Attendance 3,830 3
Delivering the right audience for exhibitors The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia exhibition s visitor marketing campaign targeted over 20,000 Saudi-based, relevant industry professionals and delivered more than 2,700 trade professionals to the three-day exhibition. Trade Visitors by Job Function Hotel/Hospitality/Dept Manager CEO/President/VP/Hotel Owner 22.2% 21.4% IT Manager/Engineer Architect/Interior Designer F&B/Restaurant/Cafe Director/Manager/Franchisee 10.6% 10.6% 12.6% Buyer Consultant/Specifier 6.9% 8.3% Event Manager Real Estate Developer Government/Association Representative 3.3% 2.3% 1.8% The Hotel Show Saudi was a great show for us. We met with potential new business partners and interior fit-out contractors and found both the quantity and quality of visitors to be very good indeed. Having met our objectives for this year we look forward to returning in 2014. Merijn Veelers, Export Manager, Forest Drapery Hardware 57% of visitors attending the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia stated that they are a decision maker, purchaser or buyer for their organisation. 49% of visitors expect to spend more than US$100,000 in the next 12 months on hotel and hospitality related products and services 35% of whom expect to spend in excess of US$1 million. 21% of visitors to the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia are C level executives or company owners. 31.8% are department managers or directors for hotels, resorts or F&B outlets. Trade Visitors by Primary Business Activity Hotel/Resort... 31.5% Distributor/Agent... 12% Restaurant/Bar/Fast Food... 10.3% Interior Design/Decorator... 8.5% Architectural Practice... 8.5% Manufacturer... 7.1% Government/Public Sector...6.4% Property Developer...5.5% Facilities Management...3.3% Special Event Services...2.8% Publishing/Journalism...2.6% Spa/Fitness Centre...1.5% 4
Global participation Seventy-four of the 101 companies exhibiting at the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia came from outside the Kingdom; confirming this inaugural event s status as the largest and most comprehensive international gathering for companies wishing to introduce or promote their products and services to the Saudi hotel and hospitality sectors. Generate sales leads, Promote company/brand in the Middle East, and Meet existing clients were the top three reasons for companies exhibiting at the Hotel Show Saudi 2012; and 95% of companies stated that they had achieved the most of their objectives at the event. Companies from the following countries were represented at the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2012 exhibition: Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. The main objective at the show was to exhibit our most popular hotel bed/mattress range and to establish contact with the hotels, hotel owners, contractors and designers for upcoming projects. The visitor quality and turnout was good and we were happy with the interest they showed in our products. We got an opportunity to understand the market and see new developments and returned with lots of ideas. Being an established show in the region, we hope to participate in the Hotel Show 2014. Samer Ahmed, Sales Manager, Restonic Exhibitor satisfaction 95% of exhibitors said they were satisfied with the QUALITY of visitors to the Hotel Show Saudi 2012 80% of exhibitors stated they will exhibit at the next edition of the Hotel Show Saudi, with another 14% yet to decide 94% of exhibitors said they were satisfied with the QUANTITY of visitors to the Hotel Show Saudi 2012 98% of exhibitors were satisfied with the service received from the event organiser s sales team Participating in the recent Hotel Show Saudi gave us the opportunity to invite and meet with prospective new clients under one roof. Our main objective was to be able to showcase the quality of our design concept and furnishing options for hotel projects. As an exhibitor, we believe that our goal was achieved as our stand was well attended by key people in the industry. All in all, a good overall show experience. We look forward to being on the stand again in 2014! Hesham Ibrahim, Managing Director, Stylis Hotel Solutions 5
The Hotel Summit Saudi Arabia Held under the patronage of HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities, the Hotel Summit Saudi Arabia was held 18-19 November at the Park Hyatt Jeddah. Attended by 170 delegates and presented by 30 leading government and business personalities from the hotel, hospitality, and tourism sectors, the summit adopted a 360 approach to discussing and debating the very latest trends, insights, policies, and innovations from a global, regional and national perspective; with the aim of promoting and supporting the Kingdom s vision for its tourism sector. The speaker faculty for this prestigious inaugural event included senior personalities from: Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities Hilton Worldwide Accor Al Fahd Hotels & Resorts Auris Hotel Management HARRT Hotel Companies Jumeirah Group JA Resorts & Hotels Frasers Hospitality UK Ltd Golden Tulip Hotels, Suites & Resorts MENA TRI Hospitality Consulting Landmark Hospitality Five Continents Hospitality Management plus many more! Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry 6
Marketing, advertising and PR campaign overview The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2012 exhibition marketing, advertising and PR campaign consisted of a comprehensive and creative marketing mix to ensure maximum awareness of the show in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There is no other hospitality trade show in Saudi Arabia that can deliver a level of coverage close to this campaign. The campaign included: Trade magazine advertising in Arabic and English English and Arabic editorial in both newspapers and trade magazines Newspaper advertising in Arabic Direct mail campaigns (Arabic and English) Online marketing, advertising and social media (Arabic and English) Email Marketing (Arabic and English) Telemarketing campaign (Arabic and English) SMS campaign (Arabic) Radio advertising (Arabic) A 5-month dedicated PR campaign (Arabic and English) Print advertising magazines: A total of 14 display advertisements, advertorials and editorial were placed in 8 regional trade publications, targeted at the many sectors of the hotel and hospitality industry, utilising a combined circulation of more than ½ million industry professionals. Print advertising newspapers: A series of half page advertisements were place in the most-read Arabic language newspaper in Saudi Arabia, Asharq Alawsat, in the immediate run up to the event, covering a combined circulation of 750,000. Direct Mail pre-registered visitor invitations: As part of a targeted and proactive direct marketing campaign, printed invitations (in Arabic and English) were mailed to 2,583 visitor prospects that had been researched and identified as VIPs based on their job function and purchasing/decision-making authority. A further 11,939 standard visitor invitations were mailed to relevant Saudi-based industry professionals. All of these visitor prospects were automatically pre-registered to attend the event and each invitation contained a Unique Reference Number (URN) to enable each pre-registered visitor to gain fast-track entry to the exhibition. This direct mail campaign was backed up by email, SMS and telemarketing campaigns to ensure maximum exposure and to increase the conversion of invited visitor prospect to actual attendee. Online marketing Hotel Show Saudi Arabia website (www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com) The official website for the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia was the primary online platform for creating and promoting awareness of the event and for encouraging visitor pre-registrations. The site received over 23,000 unique visitors during the campaign period. Online marketing advertising and social media: The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia utilised web banner advertising via its media partner websites to encourage greater show awareness and to drive visitor traffic to the official show website. Comprehensive Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) campaigns were conducted via Google and Facebook respectively to further increase awareness of the event and drive more traffic to the show website. Both the SEM and SMM campaigns delivered more than 53 million advert impressions and generated over 11,000 visits to the website. Email marketing: The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia s visitor email marketing campaign comprised of 16 separate email broadcasts to a combined database of more than 70,000 relevant industry professionals, in Saudi Arabia, in both Arabic and English. Telemarketing campaign: A highly targeted telemarketing campaign was conducted in Arabic during a three-week period directly prior to the show. The campaign reached more than 11,000 Saudi-based industry professionals, informing them of the exhibition and encouraging prospects to visit the event. SMS campaign: A comprehensive SMS campaign was conducted during the immediate run up to the exhibition to remind and encourage all pre-registered VIP and visitor prospects to attend the event. Over 60,000 SMSs were delivered to more than 15,000 contacts during the campaign. Radio advertising: The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia visitor campaign was supported by an intensive short-term radio advertising campaign on the country s most popular Arabic language radio station, Mix FM. A total of 50 25-second advert spots were broadcast during the three days of the event to further promote awareness and encourage visitors. PR campaign: The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2012 PR campaign achieved high quality, targeted and extensive press coverage across Saudi Arabia. Clear, targeted messages were delivered to a combined circulation of more than 25 million via a 3-month PR campaign that incorporated press releases, editorials, features, interviews and press events. The overall marketing and PR campaign achieved an editorial value of US$ 1.1 million and an advertising equivalent of US$ 371,000 7
Don t miss the next edition of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia Exhibition April 2014 For more information, contact: International Sales: Tim Wilson Email: timwilson@dmgeventsme.com Tel: +971 (0)4 438 0355 ext 621 Saudi Sales: Nader Ammar Email: nader@micearabia.net Tel: +966 2 6673211 ext 222 Or visit the website: www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com